The South African scientist who was the first to alert the world to the existence of the new Omicron COVID-19 variant believes that it probably emerged after running rampant through the body of an unvaccinated HIV-positive person.
The Los Angeles Times reports that bioinformatician Tulio De Oliveira has been on alert for new strains of COVID to start spreading in South Africa, where a large percentage of the youth population has unvaccinated.
In June, a study conducted by De Oliveira and colleagues focused on a single South African HIV patient who kept testing positive for COVID for 216 days, and in that amount of time, scientists detected a total of 13 unique mutations to the virus from her samples. The patient was hospitalized early after her initial positive test, but she never became critically ill from the coronaviruses, and when her antiretroviral medications were replaced about six months into the study, she both cleared her coronaviruses infection and got her HIV under control.
There were 30 genetic changes that were found in the patient's bio samples, including some that could affect how well the virus responds to vaccines or treatments.
The Omicron variant that was discovered in South Africa has since been found in Europe and the United States, and now De Oliveira is seeing a similar pattern with this variant.
The June study showed that people with HIV or AIDS would suffer worse outcomes than other people. The research suggests that people with HIV or AIDS may be at a higher risk for severe illness in South Africa than other people.
The initial research was released over the summer and De Oliveira was cautiously optimistic that it could be a golden opportunity to control the HIV epidemic.
The US and Europe have restricted travel from southern African nations to counteract the rise of the Omicron variant, even though it has been circulating in Europe for weeks prior to De Oliveira raising the alarm to the WHO.
There are many questions about the Omicron variant and its relationship to HIV. Our track record thus far has not been very good, but hopefully De Oliveira's desire for further study on these dueling pandemics will result in advances for both.
The Omicron variant may have been caused by a collision of COVID-19 and HIV.
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